Indecent Proposal

Part Three

The ride home from the restaurant had been quiet, not because I was angry, but because I was contemplative. Jack had given me a lot to think about, and a rather huge compliment, the latter laying bare what I had come to suspect in the back of my mind. Jack was envious of Mike, his friend and my husband, and I was the apparent object of that envy despite Jack's greater material success.

I couldn't talk to Mike about this, that was certain, (unless of course he brought it up), some invisible force holding my tongue on the subject that I would be hard pressed to explain rationally. I wouldn't lie to my husband either, but why struggle to bring up something just to cause an argument, (if I even could), when I was firmly committed to leaving with his best friend on what could be considered a second honeymoon (with a man other than my real husband) in just a few days? 

I found Mike waiting up for me when I had walked in through our front door, (Jack wisely opting not to walk me in himself even though he had gallantly opened his car door for me), Mike asking about our dinner, clearly meaning to me he was asking about the meal and not our "date", the former I gushing over as it was predictably wonderful... 

"How was yours?" I asked when I had gone on about my well prepared and presented meal what I thought had been long enough, I grateful for the distraction from this insanity. The meal had been perfect, (and obscenely expensive), but such was only an excuse for Jack's and my own intimate conversation, the revelation of such still obviously on my mind. 

"Leftovers from the other night" he told me with a smile, I knowing this must have been his choice as he had at least basic cooking skills, and the fridge had been well stocked.

"You could have had something fresh you know" my concern not only about that night, but in general while I would be away with his best friend.

"I don't mind leftovers" he told me cheerfully, I suddenly suspecting we weren't talking about food any longer, his double entendre perhaps obvious all things considered, or possibly my conflicted mind seeing kinky adulterous intent where none were present?

******

That night in bed my husband spooned up against me, his body announcing it's readiness, but I wasn't the least bit in the mood as it was already late, my mind obviously preoccupied, and this a work night with several things yet to accomplish at the office before my vacation. As he ground up against me though I pondered his physical response to my first ever date with another man since long before our marriage, and his earlier leftovers quip. He wasn't jealous, nor angry as one might expect, he was instead all horned up and ready to... compete for me...

"Sweetheart?" I whispered over my shoulder, I wondering how far I could go with this... opportunity... I feeling strangely emboldened by the power I now apparently had. Better to use it I thought still again, or at least to see how far it extended, rather than to squander it away...

"Yeah!" he whispered back, his strong right hand caressing my hip in a way I just love, his lips at my ear.

"No, not that" I corrected. "I would like you to make dinner tomorrow night. Not that I don't just love cooking for you and all that after a long day of my own at work, but because I want to make sure you won't go hungry while I'm off having my fun in the sun", my sarcasm clearly missed by my horned up husband. 

"I could do that" he answered huskily, still likely thinking my resolve would falter and he would get lucky.

"Goodnight sweetheart" I responded, I rolling more toward my side of the bed with a big grin on my face. "Let's see if he can match the awesome meal I just had with my other temporary husband" I thought to myself, competition taking many forms, and not all of them sexual. Sex was the prize, awarded to the victor of the competition by choice in these modern times, those other things merely some of the ways a man entered the contest.

Before I fell asleep a crazy thought occurred to me. What if Mike suspected that Jack and I had not spent our first date at Michelangelo's, but had instead snuck off someplace to consummate our fictitious marriage to each other? If so, I would have to conclude that Mike was "up" for the concept, or at least that the non thinking part of his anatomy was...

******

Sufficient to say by the following night I was confident that Mike wouldn't go hungry while Jack and I were in the islands, but the busyness of getting ready for vacation both at work and at home left me no time, (nor desire), to make love to my real husband before my Friday afternoon departure with my second faux one. The packing of my bags was like a kind of foreplay, Mike helping with unspoken thoughts as my sexy alter ego's wardrobe found it's way into my luggage, less what I had chosen to wear down on the flight so as to start this little charade off early to get into the proper mood at Jack's nervous insistence. The act of helping me pack, I think, made this more real for both of us, but neither of us voiced our thoughts, although our several eye to eye looks told me quite clearly that Mike realized at the very least that he was giving away his bride... perhaps symbolically, perhaps not.

You never get a second chance at first impressions, and with this in mind I took my time with everything to ensure I played my part convincingly when I met Jack's female employer, my flesh flaunting costumes reminding me of the part I must now play in Jack's company less I somehow slip up and act myself in a moment of weakness. His employer had spared no expense, Jack telling me they even arranged for a limousine to pick us up, sparing us the airport parking ordeal entirely, although having my husband Mike deliver my temporary other husband and myself to the airport seemed cliché and fitting in a certain sort of way. Still he drove me and my bags the short distance to Jack's place even thought both of our houses were within summertime walking distance, although not in late fall while wearing serious heels and carrying luggage, not to mention what the neighbors would conclude while watching that little show. As it was there would be whispered questions on the block, but it was far too late to worry about any of that now.

To maintain the illusion, even for the limo driver, Jack insisted earlier that I have both my things and myself at his place for pickup, the tension in his voice clear as he likely pondered the very real possibility of discovery of our elaborate charade at this late hour. Jack had a lot riding on this little deception, and I was willing to give him some latitude, but I could already feel the tension forming between us. It was one thing to submit to my true husband, (which felt quite natural to me), but doing so to Jack was something I had only fantasized about so far. 

The men were oddly silent with each other while the three of us waited for the limo at Jack's familiar house and I puttered about in my flash of flesh costume like dress and scant accessories, whether this was because I was looking just about as desirable as I could for a man other than my true husband, (not to mention his going without the last several days), or if the men had an understanding that required no conversation to confirm between themselves I don't know. It was awkward to say the least, and that increased tenfold when we heard the limo's heavy car door slam in Jack's driveway and Jack's boss and her husband walked up to Jack's door instead of the driver.

Both were dressed well and his boss radiated confident energy with every powerful step of her heels as she lead the way, and I instinctively knew this was a woman to be wary of as I watched her approach from the corner of the window shade. Both were also not nearly as old as the picture I had formed in my mind for them, she in particular looking rather well put together both in overall fitness and in her choices in clothing. 

******

"I should have known she would pull something like this" Jack growled, I sensing some small hint of fear from him of this approaching woman. In any other setting I would have laughed at strong and confident Jack's reaction to his boss making a personal and unplanned visit to his home under the circumstances, but I sensed something in this woman's near presence as well that gave me pause in doing so.

"Mike... tell them... tell them you're her brother... that you are here to see us off and then watch over my... that is our... you HAVE to say 'our' place, while we're gone" Jack ordered.

"Got it" Mike replied, he agreeing to Jack's instructions without any time for discussion on the subject. The two were friends, but I had just watched something profound between them, and I came back to Mike being "required" to dress and present me properly for this charade. One of the two of them in this moment of stress were in command, the other following those commands naturally like he had done so many times before. In this moment of stress with all three of us present Jack was most certainly the self elected alpha male, but to be fair it was after all his house and his employer, still those few words of command gave me an insight into their relationship that I hadn't seen before. 

Jack opened his front door in wide smiling invitation before his boss could knock and introductions were made with me standing possessively at his side, both Jack's boss Tammy, and her husband Pete as warm and gracious as one would expect. In Tammy's case it was apparent to me that her charm was artificially turned to ten though, and I felt as if I were being manipulated skillfully by her almost instantly, her very first words to me that my pictures didn't do me justice. It was a magnificent woman to woman compliment designed to disarm me with flattery, but how does one respond to something like that other than saying thank you? Which I did. I knew I couldn't tell her that she looked much younger and more vibrant than Jack had lead me to believe she was, so I settled for a better lie by telling her how thrilled I was to be going on this trip, (a half lie), and that I was happy to have both of them here at our home, (a full lie twice over).

My husband Mike was introduced by Jack as my brother, that part of his little apparent on the fly modification to our deception at least apparently taken at face value by Tammy and Pete. Tammy was in command though the second she walked into the room, that was obvious when she stated rhetorically that she thought all three "boys" could handle the luggage while we ladies got to talk, dismissing them adroitly with the task she intended for them without ever really asking.

Once the "boys" were set in their chores, (Mike my husband as well falling in line), Tammy told me she would just love a tour of MY magnificent home, I instantly alone and defenseless with this well dressed scorpion by her careful delegation of the luggage duties.

"Didn't the chauffeur usually handle the bags?" I asked myself.  

"Do we have the time?" I queried, trying to stall while trying not to appear rude, but at the same time asking HER permission not to give the tour she had wanted. This woman was all smiles and charm, but underneath that confident well dressed mask I feared a cunning predator that sensed something, some weakness that she could naturally exploit to her advantage, and therefore Jack's disadvantage, and by extension my own. That made us adversaries, her and I, but I didn't know exactly why yet... Unless?

"Don't show any fear" I told myself without mirth, they can smell that a mile away, and if she knew who I really was why wouldn't she just make the accusation outright and be done with it before we got on the plane together? 

"...Perhaps just the short tour this time" Tammy acquiesced as she read my face like a professional gambler and then looked around the living room, her eyes not missing a clue. "We DO have a flight to catch, and I suspect some minor problems at the gate as you and your husband's addresses on your tickets apparently don't have the same house number on them for some reason or another."

Tammy had just dropped the first of many proverbial bombs on me, she looking back at me intently for a reaction to this first revelation. I would come to learn this pattern about her, poke someone, then watch for the reaction, and I had to begrudgingly admit that she was exceeding good at it. Such also told me this woman didn't miss much, but I had already concluded this on my own.

"Oh?" I asked nonchalantly, or so I had thought. "No doubt some typographical error" I offered as smoothly as possible, although I knew that it was a lie, and possibly so did she with her eyes attempting to bore into my own as I averted her gaze. We lived on the same street Jack and I, but many houses apart, the necessity of using my drivers license number to generate the plane tickets in this day and age causing it to have the correct one on it and not Jack's...  

Command also obviously came naturally to this woman as if she were born to it, the "boys" doing her bidding, and I about to do the same with little choice her control so adroitly applied, even inside what was supposed to be my own home. This was obviously a man's house, despite my minor influences to Jack's décor, Tammy not missing any of this I feared. The upstairs part of the house where the bedrooms were was another story entirely, pardon the pun, not one stitch of my clothing occupying any closet in what was supposed to also be this home of mine, nor were there any cosmetics in any bathroom that I could claim as my own. Simply stated, any tour of the upstairs of this home of Jack's would ruin this charade before the plane ever left the ground.

At the conclusion of our bottom floor tour Tammy told me she could see Jack's influence in this home, but not necessarily my own. It was the second poke from her, but I was beginning to expect them, the boys done with their chores and waiting for permission, from her, to leave, but Jack's presence by the door gave me some courage with this powerful force of a woman. 

"Jack likes it like that, and anything that Jack likes tends to make me happy!" I defended as I made eye contact and smiled at her with Jack in my peripheral sight, this not in the least bit a lie, perhaps the first truth I had told since meeting her.

It was a gentle rebuke for a woman I had just met that was none the less getting under my skin almost instantly, but at the same time about as far as I could go with a woman that Jack likely wished to continue to work for long after this little vacation charade was over...

"So I have heard, good for the both of you, most aren't so fortunate you know" Tammy revealed with what sounded to me like total sincerity.

I was of course left to wonder what she had heard, and from whom, but I also realized at the same time that this was just another poke to see if I would respond. 

"We need to leave now?" Pete chimed in from the door in the form of a respectful question, I grateful for the distraction, but knowing I would have to reengage Tammy on this subject less she deduce correctly that I had something to hide, which I obviously did.

I had to remember to give my true husband Mike a brotherly peck on the cheek by way of a goodbye kiss and not a more passionate husbandly one, but at least it was a kiss of some kind before the four of us got into the limo and drove toward the airport. The look in my husband's eyes again spoke volumes to me, but his benign words were for all of us when he told us not to worry about anything and to just have a good time. 

What did he mean by "have a good time" exactly? I was left to wonder, I expecting to have a private moment with him before we were separated, this woman and her obvious intentions to catch Jack and I in an awkward moment stealing that from me though. I initially resented that intrusion, but what could I have said in that stolen private moment that I hadn't managed in the weeks before? I wondered to myself. For whatever reason I had found it impossible to broach the subject of this second honeymoon charade with my real husband several times already, why would this last one have been any different?

The limo driver went up the road and past my own house slowly, despite the more direct route to the highway and the connected airport being in the opposite direction. Tammy made it a point to stare at my more humble true home and the mailbox out front with the house number on it that matched my plane ticket, her mind's direction and constant innuendo already making me highly uncomfortable in this lie I had been coerced into. 

Was I imagining this, or was she on to our little deception and only letting us go to see when we finally fessed up to our sins?

"Jack" Tammy started the conversation with. "Your coworkers at the office have put together a little surprise second honeymoon care package, but unfortunately, for reasons that will become obvious, it had to be shipped separately. It will be waiting in your suite when we get there though, it's purported to be something that at least one of you will enjoy, if I am to believe the rumors about the office."

"Oh, that was very generous of them" Jack lied, I left to wonder at the surprise waiting for us.

The small talk on the rest of the ride in was pleasant enough, I dreading the proverbial other shoe to drop though. This was a "get to know you" trip, Tammy doing just that, but not I hoped in the way that ruined Jack's future by exposing our lie. Both Tammy and Pete watched me and made eye contact with every word, making me feel more like a lab specimen than a woman, but to be fair I was the unknown element in this company. Still I was being studied, even by Pete, whom I had initially dismissed as nearly irrelevant in the overpowering company of his wife Tammy. I was dressed provocatively enough to get another kind of attention from any man, but I was sitting next to my "husband" and dismissed Pete's indifference to my flash of flesh in his wife's presence as nothing more than cautious good manors.

******

The quiz about birthdays and anniversaries and relevant family information never happened like I had expected it might, with the exception of my "brother" who was really my true husband and instantly fabricated on the fly. Yes, "he" lived down the street I confessed sheepishly, and yes, that was a rather odd coincident, but convenient for "us" so that he could keep an eye on things while we were away less some pipe break in the cold and flood "our" home. It was my own improvisation to this fictitious story line we had created, but in my estimation a logical one to explain away Tammy's interest in my true address and home. I had not looked her in the eye during this confession, but I didn't even realize that at the time.

It turned out that there was no problem at the gate with the address on my ticket not matching my "husband's", nor on the first part of the flight down with all of us sitting together in first class, (with me sitting between Jack and the well dressed scorpion that was his boss by design as she no doubt had selected the seating arrangements herself). My rings came up in conversation though, Tammy commenting on how lovely they were, I for a brief moment fearing that Jack had left his matching wedding band behind when the subject came up.

"It looks like a Becket, they really do some wonderful work" Tammy probed as she looked at the massive diamond and it's unique set on my finger in close inspection. 

"It is" I confirmed with pride, I telling this woman another truth, but obviously leaving out the identity of the man who had placed it on my finger. I loved my rings and had received many compliments on them, so this seemed like a safe direction for her to go, and a welcome distraction from the inconsistencies she had noticed at Jack's house.

"I have several pieces from them, simply the best jewelers in the entire state" Tammy opined, she watching me again intently for some reaction to this revelation.

My wedding and engagement rings were complimentary pieces to each other, as were my husband's band to mine, the set of three made together and sized at the same time, Jack's however making it number four to a set that should only ever be expected to be made in threes should someone ever think to ask. I realized belatedly that it was a huge mistake for me to confirm the jewelers identity, but I tried not to let my face give away my thoughts...

******

"I think we're in trouble" Jack told me once in the safety of "our" honeymoon suite a few hours later, the room one entire corner of the top floor of a magnificent hotel on the beach. Both the room and the view were stunning, as was my slip up with Tammy, I simply telling him I was sorry while offering that she might not inquire at Becket's jewelers, (whom she was an obvious customer), as to the particulars of my stunning rings.

"Want to bet on that?" Jack asked rhetorically. He wasn't angry with me, although I would have preferred it if he had been.

"I wish there was some way to make this right" I told my faux husband in total sincerity.

"I know, just enjoy this vacation and try to pretend that Becket's never happened. If we draw attention to it by trying to explain it away somehow it will look like we're trying to get away with something."

"But we are?" I laughed.

"Time to get back into character 'sweet cheeks'"...

"Okay then husband of mine, shall we open the box your coworkers sent along?"

"I was thinking bikini on the beach instead, the water looks awesome, we can open our little surprise gift later" Jack commanded. I had told him what I had wanted, and he had told me what we were doing, clearly taking charge of the situation and breaking from the paradigm of our previous relationship where he always asked.

To be fair though I didn't protest, I simply jumped into the shower and removed my makeup, emerging fifteen minutes later wearing my almost nothing bikini, Jack's eyes nearly bugging out of his head and making me feel both sexy and exposed, even in my semi-transparent beach wrap. It was a surreal experience for me, but there was comfort in having Jack tell me what to do, even if he had chosen a non confrontational way to do so. 

"WHAT?" I asked defensively when I saw his stare after exiting the massive bathroom, but at the same time smiling as it felt good for my ego to have Jack check me out like that.

"WOW... just wow, you look magnificent in that. I'm going to be the envy of every man out there. Better stay close to me lest someone should want to steal you away from me" he further commented, enforcing the notion that I was both HIS, and his to do with what he pleased, at least in my mind.

My ego was soaring, and I felt a special tingle (ordinarily reserved for my husband) at Jack's compliment despite the clearly implied possessive nature of his words, or possibly because of them. This wasn't necessarily about sex though, (despite my body's reaction), Jack was just appreciating the body I just happened to have, the one that was hardly covered and in his company, the same one I suspected my husband at times took for granted but still wished to have me keep hidden from others with possible nefarious intent... like Jack.

What did Mike know about his best friend Jack that I didn't? I wondered. And what really compelled my husband to deliver me into Jack's presence far from home dressed to entice? These were questions that I kept coming back to, the debt of my awesome engagement ring and it's obscene cost suddenly not seeming the true reason for my husband's commitment to this fidelity tempting vacation, I left to wonder logically still again if there were an ulterior motive in all this...

Jack had taken the opportunity to change into his own swim trunks in modesty while I was in the shower, the same ones I had seen him wear many times before in his pool, but this time I caught myself looking, and not just seeing his fit body indifferently back home with my husband close by.

"So, Jack, what would your version of the perfect wife do right now?" I asked with a broad smile, I approaching him like a runway model with one foot placed directly in front of the other to accentuate the sway of my hips before putting my small hand partially around his muscular upper arm possessively, I looking for a reaction of my own, knowing what such things did to my real husband. It was one of the buttons that turned him on, I flirting ever closer to adultery with this taboo man like a child playing with fire, all while pretending to do so to remain brazenly in character for our charade barely four hours into it.

It was very forward of me, and most certainly out of character for my former self, but the surreal nature of this whole situation made me feel like I was watching the actions of another, and that bikini wearing demi adulterer was very turned on and capable of almost anything so very far from both her true husband, and her true home. I had both motive, and opportunity, the two key ingredients of any illicit activity.

There are times when words are not necessary, and this was one of them as Jack and I made eye contact with but inches between us. But, if I had somehow, inexplicably, misunderstood his eyes, the tenting in his baggy swim trunks told me his thoughts and my own were on a parallel course, and he wanted me about as badly at that moment as my body shouldn't have wanted him.

"Better do something about that Jack" I said while directing my eyes toward his suddenly awake manhood and attempting to defuse the situation I had created, "BEFORE we get down to the beach and possibly meet up with your boss." 

"You did this to me intentionally" he complained with a smile and little sincerity.

"How about we see what your friends sent along first and then go to the beach afterwards if it's still light out?" I asked while breaking away from him and changing the subject so as to not have to admit to myself that I had done this intentionally to Jack, perhaps selfishly so just to see if I could sexually excite a man other than my husband. At the same time my curiosity for what was in that box was eating at me, and taking the time to find out both appealed to me, and would give little Jack some time to deflate. Jack might be in charge for the purposes of this little deceptive act of ours, but I had already proven that this woman I was pretending to be could manipulate him subtly if she tried.

 Tammy, Jack's boss, was another matter though, that woman intimidated me.

"You know that we're obligated to try out whatever is in that box at least once, don't you?" Jack asked ominously.

"I meant to ask you about that, it seems as if everybody, including Tammy, knows what's in that box except me, I kind of feel left out of the joke as it were."

"I don't know what's in the box myself, but I have an idea of what might be in there. My office has a rather dark sense of humor, and my boastful deeds... with you, likely inspired them" Jack confessed.

"So, lets make a little wager, you and I? You tell me what's in the box, and if your wrong your boastful deeds will remain just a fantasy."

"...Oh, God" I thought the moment the words left my lips, did I just say that out loud?

"Deal" Jack said way too fast. "It will be some kind of... ahh... wifely discipline kit, so that I can presumably keep you in line on our second honeymoon like they think I do at home."

"Wifely discipline kit? That's a little vague" I scoffed while stalling and looking for an out on the outrageous collateral I had just offered up by implication.

"Go ahead and open it sweet cheeks" Jack commanded confidently, both my poorly concealed lust and my curiosity definitely getting the better of me this time.

I went to the box and tore the ornate wrapping from it, the smell of fresh leather assailing my senses and reminding me of a favorite pair of boots I once had. Inside there was a leather sleep mask, one pair of leather cuffs with matching pad locks, a black ball with leather straps attached, and a long black leather paddle. At the bottom of the box was a length of chrome chain, the purpose of which was as obvious as the other items in the box.

I placed each item on an end table one at a time, the feel and smell of the leather threatening to overwhelm me, and suggesting to me that both men had a shared kink, as did I apparently with them. Could Jack have been the true inspiration for my own husband's explorations into light restraint with me, and if so did I owe him a big thank you for it?

"Who's to say these things aren't for you to wear and not me?" I bluffed unsuccessfully.

"Going to renege on your implied bet sweet cheeks?" Jack asked sarcastically, his tone telling me that he expected as much, with the further implied message being that he was OK with that. 

"NO" I sighed, the surprise in his eyes almost comical, I knowing this was in a way my fault for agreeing to this charade in the first place, as well as for taunting him sexually moments earlier while wearing my almost nothing bikini.

"REALLY?"

story continues in Indecent Proposal 4
o0o

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04.06.18